THE father of a Blackburn Hawks legend is part of a duo who have taken over control of the ice hockey team.

Graham Lomax – father of former Hawks captain Ollie – and Carl Everitt have taken over the day-to day-operations of the team from Planet Ice – owners of Blackburn Ice Arena.

The pair admitted they were delighted to take control of the team who have applied to play in Moralee North Two next season – having competed in North One before the campaign was halted in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of their first roles will be to appoint a new head coach after James Neil announced he was stepping down from the role.

In a join statement, Lomax and Everitt said: “We are absolutely delighted to be offered the opportunity to take ownership of the Blackburn Hawks.

“Having been in and around the club and league for several years we feel we know what it takes to bring the ‘halcyon days’ back to Blackburn Arena.

“It’s also clear that the team needs a little TLC and the patient, passionate fans need something to once again get them excited about, and we’d like to think that we can bring that to them.

“No, in-fact we know we can bring that to them.

“Our ethos going forward is very simple, it’s like a building project, knock down what currently exists, put in new foundations and build upwards toward the sky”.

“One thing we can guarantee, is commitment and professionalism, not only as owners but in the coach we appoint and subsequently players that he’ll recruit.

“Blackburn Hawks has a fantastic facility, it also has a solid core fanbase and we want to build on this and take the club forward.

“We feel that fan engagement will be key and we aim to put together a team of volunteers who have the desire and belief to make this a special place to play once again.

“We look forward to working with our loyal fans, coaches, players and Planet Ice to create a fan experience to be proud of.”

“Today is day one for us, we can’t change the past, but we can change the future.”

Planet Ice will retain the intellectual property rights to the Blackburn Hawks so as to ensure that both the team operated by Lomax and Everitt and the Blackburn Junior Hawks can utilise the name, the Blackburn Hawks.

Planet Ice CEO Heath Rhodes said: “It has become apparent that in order for the Blackburn Hawks to grow it needs to be operated by an ownership group who are based locally and who can commit energy and passion to the team.

“We wish Graham and Carl every success and we look forward to them realising their ambitious plans to grow the audience for ice hockey in Blackburn.”